Load bearing multiple panel unit



Dec. 29, 1964 c. B. MONK, JR 3,162,982

LOAD'BEARING MULTIPLE PANEL UNIT Filed Feb. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z/&

mx-xx-i' Dec. 29, 1964 c. B. MONK, JR 3,162,982

LOAD BEARING MULTIPLE PANEL UNIT Filed Feb. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r w29 21 J4 7 WW Z, f y

United States Patent 3,152,982 LOAD BEARING MULTEPLE PANEL UN?! ClarenceB. Monk, J12, 1934 Beather Road, Batavia, iii. Filed Feb. 9, 195?, Ser.No. 791,994 6 Claims. (Cl. 583fi? This invention relates to a buildingconstruction in which parts are prefabricated at a remote point andassembled at the building site. More particularly, the invention relatesto a wall made of separately formed panels arranged edge to edge andsecured together by a bonding material. a The primary object of theinvention is to connect the panels together in a novel manner so as toform a load bearing wall capable of spanning a substantial distance andwithstanding not only tensile and compressive forces, but also rackingforces tending to shift adjacent panels longitudinally relative to eachother.

Another object is to provide resistance to racking forces by crossmembers extending transversely across and secured rigidly to a pluralityof adjacent panels.

A more detailed object is to increase the resistance to racking forcesby extending the cross members transversely of adjacent panels at aplurality of points spaced along adjacent panels.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the rear face of a vertical wallembodying the novel features of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary sectional views taken respectively alongthe lines 22 and 33 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views similar to FIG. 3 of modified panelconstructions; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of a modi fied wallconstruction.

The load bearing wall unit It shown in the drawings for purposes ofillustrating the present invention is a plate girder adapted to rest atopposite ends on spaced supporting members such as foundation walls 11of a building and supporting not only its own weight between the walls,but also other parts of the building; for example, other vertical wallsor roof trusses (not shown). Although a girder with one side providingan interior wall is shown in the drawings, it will be apparent thatother units having exterior walls or interior walls supported throughouttheir lengths also may be provided.

Generally, the plate girder comprises a plurality of individual panels12 preformed as separate assemblies at a remote point and connectedtogether at the building site to form the girder, adjacent side edges ofadjacent panels being secured together by mortar or other bondingmaterial forming joints 29. In each panel, there are a plurality ofbrick 13 arranged in spaced parallel relation in a row with theircorresponding ends aligned vertically and with the spacers betweenadjacent bricks filled by a bonding material 14 such as grout. Thismaterial secures the brick together as a rigid assembly and, if desired,may extend beyond the ends of the brick as shown. To enable each panelto resist tension and compression forces sufficiently that the finishedwall unit may have the desired load bearing qualities, there is embeddedin the grout at least one reinforcing member 15 which extendssubstantially the full length of the panel, this member also providing ameans for attaching the girder to other parts of the building.

In the preferred panel construction of FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 6, there is onereinforcing member 15 in the form of a bar of metal such as steel ofchannel across section disposed beneath the rear face of the panel 12and opening rearwardly through such face. To receive this member, therear faces of the brick are formed with rearwardly opening recesses 16intermediate their ends. Other rein forcing members 17 in the form ofcylindrical rods lie in additional recesses 18 formed on opposite sidesof the central recess. As an alternative, the channels may be made ofsuficient cross sectional area to strengthen the panel so that noadditional bars are needed. For attachment of the channel to otherbuilding parts and to strengthen the channel against lateral bending,the parallel channel legs are formed integral with inturned flanges 18:;which terminate in inwardly facing shoulders 19. The latter interlockwith nuts 20 receiving attaching bolts 21 and slidable along the channelbetween the shoulders and the bottom wall 22 of the channel.

Being disposed beneath the rear face of each panel 12 and receivinglocking nuts 20 as described above, the channel may be attached tobuilding parts at any point along its length and enables the panel to belocated close to such parts while avoiding interference between theparts and rearward projections on the panel. Alternatives to thisconstruction are illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 where reinforcing bars 15aand 15b of different cross sections are secured as by welding torearwardly projecting attachment bolts Zia and 21b. In FIG. 4, the bar15a is of T-shaped cross section and the cross bar 23 of the T is flushwith the rear face of the panel 12a. The bar 15b of the othermodification is of channel cross section with its bottom wall 22b lyingin the plane of the rear face of the panel 12b.

Attachment of the plate girder 10 to the other parts 11 of the buildingis eifected by members 24 which are Secured to the channels 15 of thepanels 12 by the bolts 21 and nuts Zil. In this instance, such membersare angle bars of L-shaped cross section extending horizontally alongthe top and bottom edges of the girder and having vertical legs 25receiving the bolts 21 and clamped thereby against the rear face of thegirder. Other legs 26 project horizontally and rearwardly from the topand bottom edges and are apertured at appropriate points along theirlengths to receive bolts 27 by which they are secured to the buildingparts.

To enable the girder it) to sustain substantial loads even whenunsupported throughout its length, the present invention contemplatesthe provision of novel means for resisting racking forces acting on thegirder; that is, vertical shearing forces tending to shift adjacentpanels 12 longitudinally relative to each other. With a wall unit suchas the girder which is supported at its ends, the racking forces due togravity tend to shift each panel spaced inwardly from the end panelsdownwardly with respect to the adjacent panel nearer the closest end.The means for resisting such forces comprises at least one member 23 ofreinforcing material extending transversely across the rear faces ofadjacent panels and rigidly attached to the channels 15 of such panels.The racking forces then are transmitted from the channels to such memberand are sustained by the latter. Preferably and to distribute theracking resistance throughout the lengths of adjacent panels, there area plurality of reinforcing members attached to the panels at pointsspaced along the panels. Some of the members advantageously are theattaching angle bars 24 extending along the bottom edges of the girder,these bars thus performing the dual functions of reinforcing the panelsand providing means for attachment of other building parts to thegirder.

It is desirable to utilize the attaching bars 15 and the reinforcingmembers 28 to sustain all of the racking forces and thereby avoid theapplication of the forces to the joints 29 between adjacent panels. Thisis accomplished in the preferred construction of FIGS. 1 to 3 byutilizing flat bars as the reinforcing members and arwardly fromopposite end portions of the girder.

ranging them in parallel relation diagonally across the rear faces ofadjacent panels, these bars converging down- Referring to FIG. 1, itwill be seen that the bars are formed of fiat steel stock and theoutermost two bars are somewhat wider and thus heavier for a givenlength than the next bar. Each of the wider bars is secured to eachchannel 15 it crosses by two bolts 21 and the narrower bars are securedto each channel by only one bolt.

In one plate girder 10 constructed as shown in FIG. 1 and satisfactorilymeeting tension, compression and racking tests, there are twenty-onepanels 12, four feet high with a span of twenty feet between themidpoints of the end panels. In each panel, the reinforcing rods 17 wereformed of reinforcing steel three-eighths of an inch in diameter and thechannel, also formed of steel, was 0.23 of a square inch in crosssection. The L-shaped attaching angle bars 24 were formed of mildstructural steel one-fourth of an inch thick with each leg of the Lhaving a length of three and one-half inches. Also formed of mildstructural steel were the rack resistant bars 28. There were four suchbars at each end portion of the girder and the outer bars wereone-quarter of an inch thick and three inches wide, the inner two barsat each end portion having a width of two inches and a thickness ofone-quarter of an inch.

The racking forces have a resultant which acts along an incline withrespect to the horizontal and thus is divisible into horizontal andvertical components. Advantage of this fact is taken to reduce the steelin the racking resistant members by utilizing the panels 12 and joints29 to absorb the vertical component so that the racking resistantmembers absorb only the horizontal component. For this purpose, theracking resistant members may extend horizontally across the rear facesof the panels. Such a modified construction is shown in FIG. 6 in whichparts corresponding to parts of the preferred construction bear similarbut primed reference characters. Referring to FIG. 6, it will be seenthat a single bar 28' parallels and is disposed substantially midwaybetween the attaching bars 24'. Also, the single bar is heavier per unitlength than the diagonal bars 23 of the preferred construction of FIGS,1 to 3. The total amount of steel in the single horizontal bar, however,is less than the steel needed in the diagonal bars.

It will be apparent that the novel load bearing wall units describedabove provide the pleasing exterior appearance of brick while stillhaving the desired strength characteristics. With the brick in eachpanel and the mortar or grout between bricks and panels capable ofabsorbing some .of the compression, tension and racking forces appliedto the girder, the latter provides the same or greater strengthcharacteristics as an all steel truss structure but with much less steeland a correspondingly lower cost. This is made possible by the coactionbetween the reinforcing members 15 and 17 extending substantially thefull lengths of the panels and the transverse bars 24 and 28 secured tothe reinforcing members to provide the resistance to racking forces.

I claim as my invention:

1. A load bearing construction unit of fiat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottom edges,said unit comprising, a

in combination, a row of separately formed elongated flat rectangularpanels arranged side by side and parallel to each other in a commonplane with adjacent side edges of adjacent panels disposed verticallyand closely adjacent each other, a bonding material securing saidadjacent side edges of adjacent panels to each other to form a rigidWall assembly, each of said panels having front and rear faces and anelongated metal reinforcing member embedded in the panel so as to extendsubstantially the full length thereof between said faces and to beaccessible from the rear face, a plurality of elongated flat first barsextending diagonally across said rear faces of adjacent panels so as toconverge downwardly from the side edges of said unit, fastening elementsspaced along each of said bars and interlocking with the bar and saidreinforcing members of adjacent panels to secure the later and the barrigidly together, and reinforcing bars extending along said top andbottom edges of said unit and secured to said reinforcing members so asto co-operate with said first bars and said bonding material to providea resistance to racking forces and prevent shifting of each panellongitudinally relative to adjacent panels, said panels, bondingmaterial, bars, and fastening elements forming a self-contained loadbearing wall unit transportable as a unit from place to place.

2. A load bearing construction unit of flat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottom edges,said unit comprising, in combination, a row of separatelyformed'elongated fiat rectangular panels arranged side by side andparallel to each other in a common plane with adjacent side edges ofadjacent panels disposed vertically and closely adjacent each other, abonding material securing said adjacent side edges of adjacent panels toeach other to form a rigid wall assembly, each of said panels havingfront and rear faces and an elongated metal reinforcing member embeddedin the panel so as to extend substantially the full length thereofbetween said faces and to be accessible at the rear face, an elongatedflat first bar extending transversely across said rear faces of adjacentpanels in parallel with and between said top and bottom edges of saidunit, fastening elements'spaced along said bar and interlocking with thebar and said reinforcing members of adjacent panels to secure'the latterand the bar rigidly together, and reinforcing bars extending along saidtop and bottom edges of said unit and secured to said reinforcingmembers so as to co-operate withsaid first bars and said bondingmaterial to provide a resistance to racking forces and prevent shiftingof each panel longitudinally relative to adjacent. panels, saidpanels,bonding material, bars, and fastening elements forming a self-containedload bearing Wall unit transportable as a unit from place to place.

3. A load bearing construction unit of flat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottomedges,.said unit comprising, in combination, a row of separately formedelongated flat rectangular panels arranged side by side and parallel toeach other in a common plane with adjacent side edges of adjacent panelsdisposed vertically and closely adjacent each other, a bonding materialsecuring said adjacent side edges of adjacent panels to each other toform a rigid wall assembly, each of said panels having front and rearfaces and an elongated metal reinforcing member embedded in the panel soas to extend substantially the full length thereof between said facesand to be accessible at the rear face, at least one elongated flat firstbar extending u'ansversely across said rear faces of adjacent panelsbetween said top and bottom edges of said unit, fastening elementsspaced along said bar and interlocking with the bar and said reinforcingmembers of adjacent panels to secure the latter and the bar rigidlytogether, and reinforcing bars extending along said top and bottom edgesof said unit and secured to said reinforcing members so as to co-operatewith said first bar and said bonding material to provide a resistance toracking forces and prevent shifting of each panel longitudinallyrelative to adjacent panels, said panels, bonding material, bars, andfastening elements forming a selfcontained load bearing wall unittransportable as a unit from place to place.

4. A load bearing construction unit of flat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottom edges,said unit comprising, in combination, a row of separately for-medelongated flat rectangular panels arranged side by side andparallel toeach other in a common plane with adjacent side edges of adjacent panelsdisposed vertically and closely adjacent each other, a bonding materialsecuring said adjacent side edges of adjacent panels to each other toform a rigid Wall assembly, each of said panels having front and rearfaces and an elongated metal reinforcing member embedded in the panel soas to extend substantially the full length thereof between said facesand to be accessible from the rear face, a plurality of elongated flatreinforcing bars extending diagonally across said rear faces of adjacentpanels so as to converge downwardly from the side edges of said unit toprovide a resistance to racking forces, fastening elements spaced alongeach of said bars and interlocking with the bar and said reinforcingmembers of adjacent panels to secure the latter and the bar rigidlytogether, and attaching means secured to said reinforcing members'andadapted to be fastened to building structures to be supported by theunit, said panels, bonding material, bars, and fastening elementsforming a self-contained load bearing wall unit transportable as a unitfrom place to place.

5. A load bearing construction unit of fiat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottom edges,said unit comprising, in combination, a row of separately formedelongated fiat rectangular panels arranged side by side and parallel toeach other in a common plane with adjacent side edges of adjacent panelsdisposed vertically and closely adjacent each other, a bonding materialsecuring said adjacent side edges of adjacent panels to each other toform a rigid wall assembly, each of said panels having front and rearfaces and an elongated metal reinforcing member embedded in the panel soas to extend substantially the full length thereof between said facesand to be accessible at the rear face, racking resistance meansincluding at least one fiat reinforcing bar extending horizontallyacross said rear faces of adjacent panels, fastening elements spacedalong said racking resistant bar and interlocking with the bar and saidreinforcing members of adjacent panels to secure the latter and the barrigidly together, and attaching means secured to said channels andadapted to be fastened to building structures to be supported by theunit, said panels, bonding material, racking resistance means, andfastening elements forming a self-contained load bearing wall unittransportable as a unit from place to place.

6. A load bearing construction unit of flat generally rectangular shapeadapted for use in a vertical position and having top and bottom edges,said unit comprising, in combination, a row of separately formedelongated flat rectangular panels arranged side by side and parallel toeach other in a common plane with adjacent side edges of adjacent panelsdisposed vertically and closely adjacent each other, a bonding materialsecuring said adjacent side edges of adjacent panels to each other toform a rigid wall assembly, each of said panels having front and rearfaces and an elongated metal reinforcing element embedded in the panelso as to extend substantially the full length thereof between said facesand to be accessible from the rear face, racking resistant meansincluding at least one reinforcing member extending transversely acrosssaid rear faces of adjacent panels, fastening elements spaced along saidracking resist-ant member andinterlocking with the member and saidreinforcing elements of adjacent panels to secure the latter and themember rigidly together, and attaching means secured to said reinforcingelements and adapted to be fastened to building structures to besupported by the unit, said panels, bonding material, racking resistancemeans, and fastening elements forming a self-contained load bearing wallunit transportable as a unit from place to place.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS447,746 Elterich June 28, 1892 1,430,931 Blackall Oct. 3, 1922 1,484,520Michod Feb. 19, 1924 1,673,118 Lawrence June 12, 1928 1,781,794 TappanNov. 18, 1930 1,993,792 Man-ske et a1 Mar. 12, 1935 2,039,098 Marks Apr.28, 1936 2,052,113 Ruppel Aug. 25, 1936 2,053,873 Niederhofer Sept. 8,1936 2,089,046 Venzie Aug. 3, 1937 2,144,597 Reed et a1. Jan. 17, 19392,321,813 Henzel June 15, 1943 2,480,241 Hensel Aug. 30, 1949 2,602,322Preble et a1 July 8, 1952 2,881,613 Taylor et al Apr. 14, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 481,597 Canada of 1952 824,911 France of 1937

4. A LOAD BEARING CONSTRUCTION UNIT OF FLAT GENERALLY RECTANGULAR SHAPE ADAPTED FOR USED IN A VERTICAL POSITION AND HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES, SAID UNIT COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A ROW OF SEPARATELY FORMED ELONGATED FLAT RECTANGULAR PANELS ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE AND PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER IN A COMMON PLANE WITH ADJACENT SIDE EDGES OF ADJACENT PANELS DISPOSED VERTICALLY AND CLOSELY ADJACENT EACH OTHER, A BONDING MATERIAL SECURING SAID ADJACENT SIDE EDGES OF ADJACENT PANELS TO EACH OTHER TO FORM A RIGID WALL ASSEMBLY, EACH OF SAID PANELS HAVING FRONT AND REAR FACES AND AN ELONGATED METAL REINFORCING MEMBER EMBEDDED IN THE PANEL SO AS TO EXTEND SUBSTANTIALLY THE FULL LENGTH THEREOF BETWEEN SAID FACES AND TO BE ACCESSIBLE FROM THE REAR FACE, A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED FLAT REINFORCING BARS EXTENDING DIAGONALY ACROSS SAID REAR FACES OF ADJACENT PANELS SO AS TO CONVERGE DOWNWARDLY FROM THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID UNIT TO PROVIDE A RESISTANCE TO RACKING FORCES, FASTENING ELEMENTS SPACED ALONG EACH OF SAID BARS AND INTERLOCKING WITH THE BAR AND SAID REINFORCING MEMBERS OF ADJACENT PANELS TO SECURE THE LATTER AND THE BAR RIGIDLY TOGETHER, AND ATTACHING MEANS SECURED TO SAID REINFORCING MEMBERS AND ADAPTED TO BE FASTENED TO BUILDING STRUCTURES TO BE SUPPORTED BY THE UNIT, SAID PANELS, BONDING MATERIAL, BARS, AND FASTENING ELEMENTS FORMING A SELF-CONTAINED LOAD BEARING WALL UNIT TRANSPORTABLE AS A UNIT FROM PLACE TO PLACE. 